Hard Talk – Healthcare cost burden

By Nasik Swami: Payroll tax on GPs, increasing costs for GP visits, and a complicated Medicare scheme—is our health system failing our communities and the most vulnerable? Are the increasing healthcare costs becoming a deterrent for people in our district to visit a GP/doctor and seek treatment when our public hospitals are already overcrowded? Who should be held accountable for the burden of the extra healthcare costs people in country towns are facing? The Royal Australian College of GPs and the Australian Medical Association have warned the payroll tax would force clinics to pass on the cost to patients, end bulk billing, or shut down completely. In this edition of Hard Talk, The News digs deep into the much talked about GP payroll tax, the increasing cost of seeing a GP in country towns like Naracoorte, and a review of our Medicare system. We asked the SA Health Minister Chris […]

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